Posters

Poster Details

First Author: M.Elhanan UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Co Author(s):

Abstract Details

Purpose:

We aimed to present a 5-year study comprising of 37 patients with microbial keratitis who yielded only positive culture; other cases with negative cultures were excluded. In this study, we will review the epidemiology, risk factors, microbiologic spectrum, and antibiotic susceptibilities for bacterial keratitis (infection of the cornea) which can be caused by non-viral pathogens of patients�â�� cases during a 5-year period at the Dubai hospital in Dubai. We hypothesize that antibiotic resistance, bacterial culture, and corneal scrapings are the important parameters to be critically evaluated for the treatment of bacterial keratitis.

Local microbiology database and retrospective audit of patients(who had a corneal scraping for culture over a 5-year period) medical records were used in this study. All the relevant clinical information pertaining to the medical records and database generated between January 2011 and December 2015 were used in this study. Data on initial diagnosis of corneal ulceration of patients seen consecutively were collected on Excel spread sheet. Briefly patients�â�� data was screened for loss of corneal epithelium with underlying stromal infiltration and suppuration associated with signs of inflammation with or without hypopyon .

Results:

A total of 37 cases were enrolled for the study, of which 23 were males. Scores for the magnitude of the epithelial defect, anterior-chamber reaction and the location of the lesion were obtained from each patient, and an index of disease severity was calculated. 40% of the patients scored the highest for disease severity,57% had intermediate severity of the disease whereas only 3% had very low score for disease severity. Amongst the four major risk factors related to bacterial keratitis,contact lens use constitutes the maximum number of cases (35%),whereas ocular surgery constitutes the least (16%)

Conclusions:

This case study has defined the common risk factors, causative organisms, antibiotic resistance, and patient demographics, of patients with keratitis in a hospital in Dubai. it replicates the previous findings that contact lens wear is major risk factor for bacterial keratitis, with Pseudomonas aeruginosa found to be major organism associated with the keratitis. This study will help the clinical management of patients with keratitis and will raise awareness of sufficient lens care and disinfection practices. Use of daily-disposable lenses use should be encouraged to prevent the frequent incidences of the disease.We also found a significant difference between various risk factors.